Q:
For new players, PvP or WvW first?
A:
I would suggest PVE first until you have it all down to muscle memory. (Especially as an elementalist where you have to use 20-25 skills constantly. An ele still has to manually switch weapons to AoE with a staff, and ride the lightning with dagger in off-hand.)
sPVP will let you switch traits and use the best runes on everything without cost. It’s a great way to find out what gives you the most burst, survivability, and also to unlock all skills that you might not already have if you’re a non-80.
In WvW you are scaled up, but retain whatever gear you currently own. So your damage, crit, health, armor will all be lower. At level 30, you will need to follow a group of 5 minimum at all times. I haven’t played ranger yet, but if you have a way to immobilize the enemy, or run speed, that is going to help you stay alive. When I play alts in WvW I put vitality gems in everything. My level 2 thief had 26k health. My level 80 elementalist has 14k.
If i try WvW do I have a prayer of winning against a real level 80?
No, but in WvW, you should be in larger groups. Join a WvW dedicated guild. They are always advertising on the maps or in Lion’s Arch.
League Of Ascending Immortals [OATH]
Spvp you’re going to get roflstomped by thieves and mesmers until you learn how to play and WvW will be about mindlessly following the zerg because you don’t have the gear or pvP knowledge to go off on your own and take people out.
however it’s good to learn in WvW while following the zerg because you get a lot of karma and xp.
You dont get better gear but your level is upgraded to level 80 in W3. I am pretty sure this has not changed.
Fort Aspenwood – the PvP server
It sounds like Wvw would be where the fun is. PvP here sound like RIFT where PUG teams would get farmed by organized groups repeatedly – but like I said I haven’t tried it yet here.
I would just focus on getting to level 80 so you have access to the wide array of slot skills and traits for your class. You can level to 80 in WvW as long as you’re consistently taking supply camps, killing yaks, capturing sentry points, doing quaggan events, capturing towers/keeps with other groups of players. When you face off against enemy players you’ll learn the balance between offense/defense, survival, and what stats you want to invest in for your gear. As long as you’re using gear scaled to your real level, you should be hitting for decent damage in WvW.
sPvP is great for testing out your end game build and gear. It’s fun. It doesn’t cost anything. You can lose at it all day and you still get points for showing up. Most of the other people also have no idea what they’re doing and are just testing classes/builds/gear.
WvW is a lot of fun on a ranger. Less than 30 hurts because you wont have your slots full but after than it barely matters. A 30 in greens is not that different from an 80 in greens. (Yes, an 80 with loaded gear is noticeably stronger). You shouldn’t be trying to 1v1 much anyway…if you’re losing, you have a lot of tools to run away.
PvE until level 10, then mix in some WvW and PvE until level 30.. by that time, you should have a better understanding on your class, and wont be overwhelmed by the select of tools you get when you are in sPvP
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/Alpine-Maps-fine-tuning/first#post6139462
If you like being in a team then WvW. If you like 1v1 then sPvP. I like sPvP but love WvW so much so that I don’t sPvP much at all now.
Miranda Zero – Ele / Twitch Zero – Mes / Chargrin Soulboom – Engi
Aliera Zero – Guardian / Reaver Zero – Necro
Wow these are some great answers – thanks for all the tips! Wish I could mark more than 1 as “The Answer.”